Francisco Alonso Lutteroth (September 19, 1952 — July 6, 2019), commonly referred to as Paco Alonso was the owner of the professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), the world's oldest wrestling promotion. Alonso was the grandson of CMLL founder

Salvador Lutteroth Salvador Lutteroth González (21 March 1897 – 5 September 1987) was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's organization, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), was the dominant Mexican wrestling p ...

and took control of the company in 1987

Career

Paco Alonso was the son of the daughter of

, who founded the promotion under the name ''La Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (EMLL). Alonso began working for EMLL in 1975, around the same time as Salvador Lutteroth's son, Salvador Lutteroth Jr., who took control of the promotion. Over the next five years, Alonso worked in a promotional capacity while Chavo Lutteroth II ran the company. Lutteroth Jr. did not command the same respect as his father, and by 1987, he handed over control and later ownership to Paco Alonso, who had the ability and intelligence to make the company evolve and succeed. Despite being the technical owner of CMLL, his daughter Sofia Alonso is in charge of the company's business-related activities. Alonso was relatively reclusive from the public eye and only gave a few interviews in his time in charge of the promotion. However, it is estimated that he was responsible for cumulatively drawing over 80,000,000 fans throughout his career at CMLL, based on 24 shows a week each with 2,000 attendance. Alonso was inducted into the

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

Class of 2008 with a 73% vote. Along with

Martín Karadagian Martín Karadagián (April 30, 1922 — August 27, 1991) was an Argentine professional wrestler and actor. Biography Karadagián was born in the San Telmo ward of Buenos Aires to a Spanish mother and Armenian father. He learned Greco-Roman wr ...

, he was one of only two inductees for the year. Alonso's leadership style was described as "''hands off''", normally content to leave the matchmaking to his booking team and staying out of the day-to-day leadership of the promotion. Alonso was also known for holding a grudge against certain wrestlers he felt had betrayed him, having banned both

Octagón Juan Escalera (born March 27, 1961) is a Mexican luchador enmascarado (masked professional wrestler) better known as Octagón. He is best known for working for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), having worked for the company since it ...

and

Konnan Charles Ashenoff (born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises; January 6, 1964),''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', Dave Meltzer, ed., May 10, 2010, issue.Sims, Steve"Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame/Founded by Dave Meltzer - Konnan". Accessed August 1, 2016. O ...

from CMLL forever and even refused to pay tribute to Antonio Peña after his death. There was also a falling out between

El Hijo del Santo Jorge Ernesto Guzmán Rodríguez (born August 2, 1963) is a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler and political activist, best known under the ring name, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of the Saint"). Guzmán is the you ...

and CMLL that led Alonso to decree that none of CMLL's working partners were to use El Hijo del Santo on their shows, and when

International Wrestling Revolution Group International Wrestling Revolution Group (Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish; the Spanish name is used for the promotion while the English initials are used for the title governing body) is a Lucha Libre promotion based in Naucalpan, S ...

refused Alonso broke off a seven-year working relationship with the promotion.

Championships and accomplishments

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards This is a list of both active and inactive ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' awards created by professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist Dave Meltzer. The first fourteen awards were created in 1980 as an informal poll between ...

( Class of 2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Paco 2019 deaths 1952 births Businesspeople from Mexico City Professional wrestling promoters People from Mexico City Lucha libre